Wellington College housemaster 'abused boys', court hears

A maths teacher at Wellington College sexually abused boys when he crept into
their dormitory in the middle of the night, a jury was told today.

Bruce Roth: The 46-year-old was accused of creeping into the dormitories of boys as young as eight years, where he would stroke their chests and touch their genitals. Photo: Vagner Vidal/INS News Agency Ltd

Bruce Roth, a housemaster at the £30,000-a-year public school where Tony Blair's biographer is the current Master, had also sexually abused boys at another private school, the court heard.

The 46-year-old was accused of creeping into the dormitories of boys as young as eight years, where he would stroke their chests and touch their genitals.

It was alleged that Roth had performed sex acts on some of the boys and encouraged one child to do the same to him.

Roth, who taught at Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berks., - where old boys include singer Will Young and impressionist Rory Bremner - and Kings School in Rochester, Kent, abused five boys in instances dating back to 1987, the court heard.

His course of alleged abuse only came to an end when the youngest of the boys, now young men, called charity ChildLine because he was so upset by what Roth had done.

"Since the 1980s he has been a teacher and housemaster at important boarding schools and that is of central importance," said Daniel Fugallo, prosecuting at Reading Crown Court, Berks.

"The jobs that he has held relate to the allegations in this case.

"Over a period of 20 years, from the late 1980s through to 2009, he has abused his position of trust as a teacher by touching five boys in his care for his own sexual gratification.

"These boys were at the time these offences took place, say the prosecution, between eight and 15 years old. They are now all young men in their late 20s and 30s.

"These men were not friends at school when they were boys and have not become friends after leaving school. They were in different years, in fact two of them went to an entirely different school in a different county from the other three."

The jury of six men and six women were told that Roth had been teaching at Kings School when one boy, aged around nine years, was kneed in the testicles during a playground scuffle.

The boy, who like the others cannot be named for legal reasons, went to Roth for help, and was asked to remove his trousers and underwear.

"For several minutes Roth rubbed some sort of cream into the boy's testicles and onto his penis," said Mr Fugallo.

The boy did not protest, being too young to realise what was happening, but later told his mother about it.

She complained to the school, but Roth denied anything untoward had happened and said he had simply shown the boy how to apply the cream.

Years later the boy, now a grown man, sent Roth a message on Facebook asking about the incident.

"Bruce, why did you rub cream onto my b------- when (another pupil) kneed me in them in third year?," the victim asked.

"Are you a paedophile?".

Roth replied: "I don't remember any such incident, I certainly wouldn't do anything like that.

"I have always tried my best to look after anyone in my year, I'm not a paedophile."

The boy had also recalled how Roth would often punish boys by making then strip to their underwear and run laps, or lie on their backs and memorise constellations.

The court heard that the second victim, then aged 12 years, said that he had woken up and found Roth in his dormitory, sat on his bed.

Roth told him not to turn over and then put his hand inside the boy's pyjamas and played with his genitals.

"He didn't have a full understanding of sexual matters and did not tell the other boys about it," said Mr Fugallo.

"He feared he would be ridiculed."

The boy eventually told a family member, who complained to the school.

The court was told that Roth was suspended but the headmaster Ian Walker felt it had been his word against the boy's, and so the matter was dropped.

Roth then moved to Wellington College where former Prime Minister Blair's biographer, Anthony Seldon, has been Master since 2006, and allegedly began going into the dormitory of a 13-year-old boy after lights out.

Again he would sit on his bed and stroke his chest and stomach, the jury was told. This later progressed and led to Roth performing a sex act on the boy, it is alleged.

When the boy turned 14 years, it is alleged he asked the boy to reciprocate but the boy refused.

The court was told that the abuse stopped after that. However, a few years later the boy this victim broke down in tears and told a friend some of what had happened.

He also expressed concerns about other family members starting at the school, fearing they too would be abused, the jury heard.

The jury heard Roth told another alleged victim: "I'm just giving you a bit of affection."

The court heard that Roth was arrested in October 2010 but told police that he had not acted inappropriately and had given an alleged victim who had contacted Childline no more than a reassuring tap on the shoulder.

He also told officers that the boy "had a sinister side to him", and was a "fantasist".

Roth denies all 17 charges against him, four of indecent assault on a male person under 16, four counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in a sexual activity and six counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.

All of the charges relate to incidents said to have occurred between 1987 and 2009.